Rendering an image from computer graphics using two rendering computing devices

ABSTRACT

An example system includes a first computing device comprising a first graphics processing unit (GPU) implemented in circuitry, and a second computing device comprising a second GPU implemented in circuitry. The first GPU is configured to perform a first portion of an image rendering process to generate intermediate graphics data and send the intermediate graphics data to the second computing device. The second GPU is configured to perform a second portion of the image rendering process to render an image from the intermediate graphics data. The first computing device may be a video game console, and the second computing device may be a virtual reality (VR) headset that warps the rendered image to produce a stereoscopic image pair.

This application claims priority to International Application No.PCT/US2018/043575, filed Jul. 24, 2018, which claims the benefit of U.S.application Ser. No. 15/683,613 filed Aug. 22, 2017. The entire contentsof each of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to rendering an image from computer graphicsdata.

BACKGROUND

Visual content for display, such as content for graphical userinterfaces and video games, may be generated by a graphics processingunit (GPU). A GPU may convert two-dimensional or three-dimensional (3D)objects defined by graphical primitives (e.g., points, lines, andtriangles) into a two-dimensional (2D) pixel bit representation, such asa bit map, that may be displayed. Converting 3D object information intoa bit map that can be displayed is known as pixel rendering, andrequires considerable memory and processing power. In the past, 3Dgraphics capability was available only on powerful workstations.However, now 3D graphics accelerators are commonly found in personalcomputers (PC), as well as in in embedded devices, such as smart phones,tablet computers, portable media players, portable video gamingconsoles, and the like.

Three-dimensional display technologies are now being used to provide 3Dcontent for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality. For example, aVR headset may include two displays, a left-eye display and a right-eyedisplay, to present a stereoscopic image pair to a wearer of the VRheadset, to produce a 3D effect from the image pair. In general, the VRheadset may produce the 3D effect by presenting images from slightlydifferent horizontal perspectives, which simulates the horizontal offsetbetween a user's eyes for binocular vision. In this manner, the VRheadset presents the stereoscopic image pair to cause the user's visualsystem to perceive the two images in 3D.

SUMMARY

In general, this disclosure describes techniques for rendering an imagefrom computer graphics data. In particular, according to the techniquesof this disclosure, two computing devices, e.g., a source device such asa video game console, personal computer, smart phone, tablet computer,or the like, and a destination device such as a virtual reality (VR)headset, may each perform parts of an image rendering process. Inparticular, a graphics processing unit (GPU) of the first device mayperform a first portion of an image rendering process to generateintermediate graphics data, and then send the intermediate graphics datato a GPU of the second device. The GPU of the second device may thenfinish rendering the intermediate graphics data to generate one or moreimages. In the case of VR, augmented reality (AR), or other suchthree-dimensional (3D) playback scenarios, the GPU of the second devicemay also perform steps that are specific to VR/AR rendering, such aswarping the rendered image to produce a stereoscopic image pair, e.g.,using depth information included in data received from the first device,optics distortion correction, or time warping to compensate latency.

In one example, a method of generating computer graphics includesperforming, by a first graphics processing unit (GPU) of a firstcomputing device, a first portion of an image rendering process togenerate intermediate graphics data, sending, by the first computingdevice, the intermediate graphics data to a second computing device, andperforming, by a second GPU of the second computing device, a secondportion of the image rendering process to render an image from theintermediate graphics data.

In another example, a system for generating computer graphics includes afirst computing device comprising a first graphics processing unit (GPU)implemented in circuitry, and a second computing device comprising asecond GPU implemented in circuitry. The first GPU is configured toperform a first portion of an image rendering process to generateintermediate graphics data and send the intermediate graphics data tothe second computing device. The second GPU is configured to perform asecond portion of the image rendering process to render an image fromthe intermediate graphics data.

In another example, a system for generating computer graphics includes afirst computing device and a second computing device. The firstcomputing device includes means for performing a first portion of animage rendering process of a graphics processing unit (GPU) pipeline togenerate intermediate graphics data and means for sending theintermediate graphics data to the second computing device. The secondcomputing device includes means for performing a second portion of theimage rendering process of the GPU pipeline to render an image from theintermediate graphics data.

In another example, a computer-readable storage medium has storedthereon instructions that, when executed, cause a second graphicsprocessing unit (GPU) of a second computing device to receiveintermediate graphics data from a first computing device generated by afirst GPU of the first computing device during a first portion of animage rendering process, and perform a second portion of the imagerendering process to render an image from the intermediate graphicsdata.

The details of one or more examples are set forth in the accompanyingdrawings and the description below. Other features, objects, andadvantages will be apparent from the description and drawings, and fromthe claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example system including twocomputing devices, a server device and a virtual reality (VR) headsetdevice, that may perform the techniques of this disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a system including exampleimplementations of a central processing unit (CPU), graphics processingunits (GPUs), and memory.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example system forperforming tiled rendering.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example system forperforming asynchronous image warping.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example stereo warpingprocess.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example technique forperforming red-green-blue and depth (RGBD) compression.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example process for rendering animage according to the techniques of this disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example system 100 includingtwo computing devices, server device 102 and virtual reality (VR)headset device 120, that may perform the techniques of this disclosure.Server device 102 includes central processing unit (CPU) 104, memory106, graphics card 108, and output interface 112. Graphics card 108includes graphics processing unit 110. VR headset device 120 includesinput interface 122, CPU 124, GPU 126, memory 128, left-eye display 132,and right-eye display 134. Memory 128 includes framebuffer memories130A, 130B (framebuffer memories 130). Although not shown in the exampleof FIG. 1, server device 102 may also include or be coupled to one ormore displays.

Server device 102 is referred to as a “server” in the sense that serverdevice 102 provides intermediate graphics data to VR headset device 120via communication medium 114. Communication medium 114 may correspond toa physical communication medium, such as a universal serial bus (USB)cable, high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) cable, or aDisplayPort cable, or a wireless communication medium, such as Bluetoothor WiFi according to IEEE 802.11. Server device 102 may correspond to,for example, a video game console, a personal computer, smart phone, ortablet computing device executing a video game or otherthree-dimensional (3D) graphics program.

VR headset device 120 represents an example of a VR headset forpresenting stereoscopic image pairs to a wearer of VR headset device120. The stereoscopic image pair may include a left-eye image, which VRheadset device 120 presents via left-eye display 132, and a right-eyeimage, which VR headset device 120 presents via right-eye display 134.

CPUs 104, 124 may be implemented in circuitry (e.g., digital logiccircuitry). CPUs 104, 124 may also represent single respectiveprocessors, or multi-processor (e.g., multi-core) CPUs. CPUs 104, 124may further include internal cache memory, e.g., any or all of an L1,L2, and/or L3 caches, and/or additional caches.

CPU 104 may execute a computer graphics-generating program, such as avideo game, ray tracing program, animation program, or the like. CPU 104may generate one or more graphics primitives (e.g., vertices, lines,triangles, or the like), as well as characteristics for objects definedby the primitives (e.g., texture images to be applied to the objects,position data defining relative positions of the objects, illuminationcharacteristics, etc.), through generation of this graphics program. CPU104 may also define one or more camera positions, generallycorresponding to the position of the screen/display at which imagesrendered from the graphics primitives are to appear. Such generated datamay generally be referred to as graphics data.

CPU 104 may then send the graphics data to graphics card 108 forrendering. CPU 104 may send the graphics data to graphics card 108directly, or may store some or all of the graphics data to memory 106and cause graphics card 108 to retrieve the graphics data from memory106 (e.g., by storing the graphics data to a region of memory 106allocated to graphics card 108). In some examples, a CPU and GPU, suchas CPU 104 and GPU 110, may form part of a system on a chip (SoC), whichmay perform the techniques of this disclosure.

Graphics card 108 may cause GPU 110 to initiate a rendering process tobegin rendering an image from the graphics data. In accordance with thetechniques of this disclosure, GPU 110 may perform only a first part ofan image rendering process, e.g., a graphics processing pipeline (alsoreferred to simply as a graphics pipeline). The graphics processingpipeline generally includes various stages, such as an application stage(performed by CPU 104, in this example), a geometry stage, arasterization stage, and a framebuffer stage.

In accordance with the techniques of this disclosure, GPU 110 mayperform only the geometry stage and the rasterization stage of agraphics processing pipeline. Performance of these stages may result inintermediate graphics data, which GPU 110 may store to a graphics buffer(G-buffer), e.g., of memory 106. The intermediate graphics data mayinclude texture data for graphics objects defined by the graphicsprimitives and/or the graphics primitives themselves and depth data forthe graphics objects. In some examples, the texture data may include animage, or information used to render an image. In some examples, theintermediate graphics data may additionally include one or more ofposition data for the graphics objects and/or graphics primitives,normals data for the graphics objects and/or graphics primitives, albedodata for the graphics objects and/or graphics primitives, and/or aspecular component for the graphics objects and/or graphics primitives.In some examples, GPU 110 or CPU 104 may compress the intermediategraphics data prior to storing the intermediate graphics data to theG-buffer.

Output interface 112 may then send the intermediate graphics data (i.e.,the G-buffer data) to VR headset device 120 via communication medium 114via output interface 112. VR headset device 120 receives theintermediate graphics data via input interface 122. Output interface 112and input interface 122 represent physical interfaces corresponding tocommunication medium 114. For example, when communication medium 114 isa cable, such as an HDMI or DisplayPort cable, output interface 112 andinput interface 122 correspond to cable port interfaces for receivingthe cable and for communicating via the cable. As another example, whencommunication medium 114 is a wireless medium, such as WiFi orBluetooth, output interface 112 and input interface 122 correspond towireless communication interfaces, such as WiFi transmitters/receiversor Bluetooth transmitters/receivers.

CPU 124 of VR headset device 120 may receive the intermediate graphicsdata from input interface 122 and send the intermediate graphics data toGPU 126. When the intermediate graphics data is compressed, CPU 124and/or GPU 126 may decompress the intermediate graphics data prior tofurther processing. In accordance with the techniques of thisdisclosure, GPU 126 may be configured to perform a second (and final)portion of the graphics rendering process using the intermediategraphics data. For example, GPU 126 may execute one or more shaders toperform various shading passes, including a final shading pass (or finalrendering pass), on the intermediate graphics data to ultimately renderone or more images from the intermediate graphics data.

For example, GPU 126 may warp texture information of the intermediategraphics data, using depth information of the intermediate graphicsdata, to produce a stereoscopic image pair. GPU 126 may, for example,treat the texture information of the intermediate graphics data as acenter view, and warp the texture information to a left-eye view and aright-eye view using the depth information. In some examples, GPU 126may store the rendered (or warped) images to respective ones offramebuffer memories 130A, 130B. For example, GPU 126 may store theleft-eye view image to framebuffer memory 130A and the right-eye viewimage to framebuffer memory 130B.

In some examples, GPU 126 may warp texture information of theintermediate graphics data to form a second, warped image, e.g., basedon the depth data included in the intermediate graphics data. GPU 126may store an image represented by the intermediate graphics data to oneof framebuffer memories 130A, 130B, and store the warped image to theother one of framebuffer memories 130A, 130B. For example, GPU 126 maystore the rendered image to framebuffer memory 130A, and the warpedimage to framebuffer memory 130B.

The images stored to framebuffer memories 130A, 130B constitute astereoscopic image pair. Thus, VR headset device 120 may display theimages of the stereoscopic image pair via left-eye display 132 andright-eye display 134. In the example of FIG. 1, VR headset device 120displays images in framebuffer memory 130A via left-eye display 132 andimages in framebuffer memory 130B via right-eye display 134.

In some examples, server device 102 and VR headset device 120 may beconfigured to perform foveated rendering. In foveated rendering, lensoptics in VR headsets (such as lens optics of left-eye display 132 andright-eye display 134) enlarge peripheral image regions in a user'sfield of view. This disclosure recognizes that it is wasteful to rendermore pixels than will be used in the final image. Thus, GPUs accordingto this disclosure (such as GPUs 110, 126) may sample pixels in thecenter of an image relatively more densely than pixels in the peripheryof the image. Deferred tiled rendering according to the techniques ofthis disclosure, explained in greater detail below with respect to FIG.3, may simplify foveated rendering, as a suitable sampling density maybe selected per tile.

Server device 102 may use a tiled deferred renderer (e.g., a standardgame engine) and render an image into layered G-buffers. An example oftiled deferred rendering is explained in greater detail below withrespect to FIG. 3. Layered image warping is described in greater detailbelow with respect to FIG. 5. Server device 102 may also defer shadingwith foveated rendering and separate buffers for diffuse and specularparts as explained below with respect to FIG. 5.

GPU 110 may perform red-green-blue-depth (RGBD) compression to compressimage and depth data sent from output interface 112 to VR headset device120 via communication medium 114. An example of RGBD compression isexplained with respect to FIG. 6 below. However, other compressionmethods may be used as well. Output interface 112 may send a data streamto VR headset device 120 via communication medium 114, and update a rateper stream based on current disparities. VR headset device 120 mayperform RGBD decompression as explained below with respect to FIG. 6.

VR headset device 120 (representing an example client device) mayperform image warping using depth buffer tessellation and texturemapping. The tessellation may respect foveated sampling. VR headsetdevice 120 may warp directly to a predistorted view for lens optics ofleft-eye display 132 and right-eye display 134. In particular, GPU 126may perform separate warping for left-eye display 132 and right-eyedisplay 134. A standard depth buffer may compose the layers inframebuffer memories 130A, 130B for correct presentation by left-eyedisplay 132 and right-eye display 134.

In this manner, the techniques of this disclosure may combine GPU powerfrom both server device 102 and VR headset device 120 (representing anexample of a client device). GPU 110 of server device 102 may be morepowerful than GPU 126 of VR headset device 120. The techniques of thisdisclosure may avoid the necessity of GPU 110 rendering both images andsending both images to VR headset device 120. Thus, the techniques ofthis disclosure may improve the processing efficiency of GPU 110, andreduce bandwidth consumed by transmissions via communication medium 114.These techniques may also avoid performance bottlenecks that mayotherwise result from rendering the stereoscopic image pair images fullyat server device 102, especially when such images are rendered atultra-high resolutions (e.g., 4K resolution).

Moreover, some example techniques of this disclosure may be used tomaintain more pixel-level information than RGB per frame on serverdevice 102. Server device 102 may use the pixel-level information totransmit less raw image data to VR headset device 120 than in standardtechniques. Likewise, server device 102 may use the pixel-levelinformation to compress the information sent to VR headset device 120.Server device 102 may generally render intermediate graphics data forone image per frame (rather than stereo images). Server device 102 mayextract RGB and depth data for the image and perform RGBD compression,e.g., as explained with respect to FIG. 6. VR headset device 120 maydecompress the data using RGBD decompression as explained with respectto FIG. 6 and re-render an RGBD frame from two eye positions,potentially using lens distortion for left-eye display 132 and right-eyedisplay 134, in a single pass.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a system 150 including exampleimplementations of CPU 152, GPU 160, memory 180, and GPU 190. In thisexample, CPU 152, GPU 160, and memory 180 are included in a serverdevice, while GPU 190 is included in a client device. It should beunderstood that the client device may further include a CPU and memoryas shown in FIG. 1, but the CPU and memory of the client device are notshown in FIG. 2, for ease of illustration. CPU 152, GPU 160, and memory180 of FIG. 2 may correspond, respectively, to CPU 104, GPU 110, andmemory 106 of FIG. 1, while GPU 190 of FIG. 2 may correspond to GPU 126of FIG. 1.

In this example, CPU 152 executes software application 154, graphics API156, and GPU driver 158, each of which may be one or more softwareapplications or services. In this example, GPU 160 includes graphicsprocessing pipeline 162 that includes a plurality of graphics processingstages that operate together to execute graphics processing commands.GPU 160 may be configured to execute graphics processing pipeline 162 ina variety of rendering modes, including a binning rendering mode and adirect rendering mode.

As shown in FIG. 2, graphics processing pipeline 162 may include commandengine 164, geometry processing stage 166, rasterization stage 168, andpixel processing pipeline 170. Pixel processing pipeline 170 may includetexture engine 172. Each of the components in graphics processingpipeline 162 may be implemented as fixed-function components,programmable components (e.g., as part of a shader program executing ona programmable shader unit), or as a combination of fixed-function andprogrammable components. Memory 180, available to CPU 152 and GPU 160,may include system memory 182 and frame buffer 184. Frame buffer 184 maybe a part of system memory 182 or may be separate from system memory182. Frame buffer 184 may store rendered image data.

Software application 154 may be any application that utilizes thefunctionality of GPU 160. For example, software application 154 may be aGUI application, an operating system, a portable mapping application, acomputer-aided design program for engineering or artistic applications,a video game application, or another type of software application thatmay utilize a GPU. In some examples, software application 154 mayrepresent a virtual reality (VR) application, e.g., a VR video game, oran augmented reality (AR) application. Thus, software application 154may send data representing a user's viewpoint (determined using any orall of external cameras, accelerometers, gyroscopes, or the like) to GPU160 via graphics API 156 and GPU driver 158. GPU 160, in turn, may usethe viewpoint data to determine one or more camera positions (e.g., asingle camera position for a single image, or multiple camera positionsfor two images, e.g., a left-eye image and a right-eye image).

Software application 154 may include one or more drawing instructionsthat instruct GPU 160 to render a graphical user interface (GUI) and/ora graphics scene. For example, the drawing instructions may includeinstructions that define a set of one or more graphics primitives to berendered by GPU 160. In some examples, the drawing instructions may,collectively, define all or part of a plurality of windowing surfacesused in a GUI. In additional examples, the drawing instructions may,collectively, define all or part of a graphics scene that includes oneor more graphics objects within a model space or world space defined bythe application.

Software application 154 may invoke GPU driver 158, via graphics API156, to issue one or more commands to GPU 160 for rendering one or moregraphics primitives into displayable graphics images. For example,software application 154 may invoke GPU driver 158, via graphics API156, to provide primitive definitions to GPU 160. In some instances, theprimitive definitions may be provided to GPU 160 in the form of a listof drawing primitives, e.g., triangles, rectangles, triangle fans,triangle strips, etc. The primitive definitions may include vertexspecifications that specify one or more vertices associated with theprimitives to be rendered. The vertex specifications may includepositional coordinates for each vertex and, in some instances, otherattributes associated with the vertex, such as, e.g., color coordinates,normal vectors, and texture coordinates.

The primitive definitions may also include primitive type information(e.g., triangle, rectangle, triangle fan, triangle strip, etc.), scalinginformation, rotation information, and the like. Based on theinstructions issued by software application 154 to GPU driver 158, GPUdriver 158 may formulate one or more commands that specify one or moreoperations for GPU 160 to perform in order to render the primitive. WhenGPU 160 receives a command from CPU 152, graphics processing pipeline162 decodes the command and configures one or more processing elementswithin graphics processing pipeline 162 to perform the operationspecified in the command. After performing the specified operations,graphics processing pipeline 162 outputs the rendered data to framebuffer 184 associated with a display device. Graphics processingpipeline 162 may be configured to execute in one of a plurality ofdifferent rendering modes, including a binning rendering mode and adirect rendering mode.

GPU driver 158 may be further configured to compile one or more shaderprograms, and to download the compiled shader programs onto one or moreprogrammable shader units contained within GPU 160. The shader programsmay be written in a high level shading language, such as, e.g., anOpenGL Shading Language (GLSL), a High Level Shading Language (HLSL), aC for Graphics (Cg) shading language, etc. The compiled shader programsmay include one or more instructions that control the operation of aprogrammable shader unit within GPU 160. For example, the shaderprograms may include vertex shader programs and/or pixel shaderprograms. A vertex shader program may control the execution of aprogrammable vertex shader unit or a unified shader unit, and includeinstructions that specify one or more per-vertex operations. A pixelshader program may include pixel shader programs that control theexecution of a programmable pixel shader unit or a unified shader unit,and include instructions that specify one or more per-pixel operations.

Graphics processing pipeline 162 may be configured to receive one ormore graphics processing commands from CPU 152, via GPU driver 158, andto execute the graphics processing commands to generate displayablegraphics images. As discussed above, graphics processing pipeline 162includes a plurality of stages that operate together to execute graphicsprocessing commands. It should be noted, however, that such stages neednot necessarily be implemented in separate hardware blocks. For example,portions of geometry processing stage 166 and pixel processing pipeline170 may be implemented as part of a unified shader unit. Again, graphicsprocessing pipeline 162 may be configured to execute in one of aplurality of different rendering modes, including a binning renderingmode and a direct rendering mode.

Command engine 164 may receive graphics processing commands andconfigure the remaining processing stages within graphics processingpipeline 162 to perform various operations for carrying out the graphicsprocessing commands. The graphics processing commands may include, forexample, drawing commands and graphics state commands. The drawingcommands may include vertex specification commands that specifypositional coordinates for one or more vertices and, in some instances,other attribute values associated with each of the vertices, such as,e.g., color coordinates, normal vectors, texture coordinates and fogcoordinates. The graphics state commands may include primitive typecommands, transformation commands, lighting commands, etc. The primitivetype commands may specify the type of primitive to be rendered and/orhow the vertices are combined to form a primitive. The transformationcommands may specify the types of transformations to perform on thevertices. The lighting commands may specify the type, direction and/orplacement of different lights within a graphics scene. Command engine164 may cause geometry processing stage 166 to perform geometryprocessing with respect to vertices and/or primitives associated withone or more received commands.

Geometry processing stage 166 may perform per-vertex operations and/orprimitive setup operations on one or more vertices in order to generateprimitive data for rasterization stage 168. Each vertex may beassociated with a set of attributes, such as, e.g., positionalcoordinates, color values, a normal vector, and texture coordinates.Geometry processing stage 166 modifies one or more of these attributesaccording to various per-vertex operations. For example, geometryprocessing stage 166 may perform one or more transformations on vertexpositional coordinates to produce modified vertex positionalcoordinates.

Geometry processing stage 166 may, for example, apply one or more of amodeling transformation, a viewing transformation, a projectiontransformation, a ModelView transformation, a ModelViewProjectiontransformation, a viewport transformation and a depth range scalingtransformation to the vertex positional coordinates to generate themodified vertex positional coordinates. In some instances, the vertexpositional coordinates may be model space coordinates, and the modifiedvertex positional coordinates may be screen space coordinates. Thescreen space coordinates may be obtained after the application of themodeling, viewing, projection and viewport transformations. In someinstances, geometry processing stage 166 may also perform per-vertexlighting operations on the vertices to generate modified colorcoordinates for the vertices. Geometry processing stage 166 may alsoperform other operations including, e.g., normal transformations, normalnormalization operations, view volume clipping, homogenous divisionand/or backface culling operations.

Geometry processing stage 166 may produce primitive data that includes aset of one or more modified vertices that define a primitive to berasterized as well as data that specifies how the vertices combine toform a primitive. Each of the modified vertices may include, forexample, modified vertex positional coordinates and processed vertexattribute values associated with the vertex. The primitive data maycollectively correspond to a primitive to be rasterized by furtherstages of graphics processing pipeline 162. Conceptually, each vertexmay correspond to a corner of a primitive where two edges of theprimitive meet. Geometry processing stage 166 may provide the primitivedata to rasterization stage 168 for further processing.

In some examples, all or part of geometry processing stage 166 may beimplemented by one or more shader programs executing on one or moreshader units. For example, geometry processing stage 166 may beimplemented, in such examples, by a vertex shader, a geometry shader orany combination thereof. In other examples, geometry processing stage166 may be implemented as a fixed-function hardware processing pipelineor as a combination of fixed-function hardware and one or more shaderprograms executing on one or more shader units.

Rasterization stage 168 is configured to receive, from geometryprocessing stage 166, primitive data that represents a primitive to berasterized, and to rasterize the primitive to generate a plurality ofsource pixels that correspond to the rasterized primitive. In someexamples, rasterization stage 168 may determine which screen pixellocations are covered by the primitive to be rasterized, and generate asource pixel for each screen pixel location determined to be covered bythe primitive. Rasterization stage 168 may determine which screen pixellocations are covered by a primitive by using techniques known to thoseof skill in the art, such as, e.g., an edge-walking technique,evaluating edge equations, etc. Rasterization stage 168 may provide theresulting source pixels to pixel processing pipeline 170 for furtherprocessing.

The source pixels generated by rasterization stage 168 may correspond toa screen pixel location, e.g., a destination pixel, and be associatedwith one or more color attributes. All of the source pixels generatedfor a specific rasterized primitive may be said to be associated withthe rasterized primitive. The pixels that are determined byrasterization stage 168 to be covered by a primitive may conceptuallyinclude pixels that represent the vertices of the primitive, pixels thatrepresent the edges of the primitive and pixels that represent theinterior of the primitive.

Pixel processing pipeline 170 is configured to receive a source pixelassociated with a rasterized primitive, and to perform one or moreper-pixel operations on the source pixel. Per-pixel operations that maybe performed by pixel processing pipeline 170 include, e.g., alpha test,texture mapping, color computation, pixel shading, per-pixel lighting,fog processing, blending, a pixel ownership test, a source alpha test, astencil test, a depth test, a scissors test and/or stippling operations.In addition, pixel processing pipeline 170 may execute one or more pixelshader programs to perform one or more per-pixel operations. Theresulting data produced by pixel processing pipeline 170 may be referredto herein as destination pixel data and stored in frame buffer 184. Thedestination pixel data may be associated with a destination pixel inframe buffer 184 that has the same display location as the source pixelthat was processed. The destination pixel data may include data such as,e.g., color values, destination alpha values, depth values, etc.

Texture engine 172 may be included as part of pixel processing pipeline170. Texture engine 172 may include programmable and/or fixed functionhardware designed to apply textures (texels) to pixels. Texture engine172 may include dedicated hardware for performing texture filtering,whereby one or more texel values are multiplied by one or more pixelvalues and accumulated to produce the final texture mapped pixel.

Frame buffer 184 stores destination pixels for GPU 160. Each destinationpixel may be associated with a unique screen pixel location. In someexamples, frame buffer 184 may store color components and a destinationalpha value for each destination pixel. For example, frame buffer 184may store Red, Green, Blue, Alpha (RGBA) components for each pixel wherethe “RGB” components correspond to color values and the “A” componentcorresponds to a destination alpha value. Although frame buffer 184 andsystem memory 182 are illustrated as being separate memory units, inother examples, frame buffer 184 may be part of system memory 182.

GPU 160 also includes graphics memory 174, which may store a graphicsbuffer (G-buffer). In accordance with the techniques of this disclosure,GPU 160 may send output of rasterization stage 168 to the G-buffer ofgraphics memory 174, instead of to pixel processing pipeline 170. GPU160 may then output the G-buffer data to GPU 190.

GPU 190 may generally include elements similar to those of GPU 160. Forexample, GPU 190 may include a graphics processing pipeline similar tographics processing pipeline 162. For purposes of explanation, onlypixel processing pipeline 194 is shown in this example, but it should beunderstood that GPU 190 may include components similar to the othercomponents of GPU 160. GPU 190 also includes graphics memory 192, whichmay also include a G-buffer to buffer data from the G-buffer of graphicsmemory 174.

GPU 160 may thereby avoid performing the entirety of graphics processingpipeline 162. Rasterization stage 168 need not call shaders directly.Instead, GPU 160 may store rasterization results in a G-buffer ofgraphics memory 174. The rasterization results (also referred to asintermediate graphics data) may include color data, depth data, normaldata (i.e., surface normal data), position data, identifier data, andthe like.

In this manner, GPU 160 may perform a first portion of an imagerendering process, to generate intermediate graphics data. The firstportion of the image rendering process may include geometry processingstage 166 and rasterization stage 168 of graphics processing pipeline162. GPU 160 may then store the intermediate graphics data in a G-bufferrepresentation in graphics memory 174. The intermediate graphics datamay include a shaded color component and a depth component. In someexamples, the intermediate graphics data may further include any or allof a position component, a normals component, an albedo component, or aspecular component for texture and/or depth information for a pluralityof graphics objects (e.g., one or more graphics primitives). Theposition component may specify a position of a graphics object. Thenormals component may specify a local surface normal for the graphicsobject. The albedo component may specify surface reflectance for thegraphics object. The specular component may specify a lighting highlightfor the graphics object. In some examples, GPU 160 may compress theintermediate graphics data prior to sending the intermediate graphicsdata to GPU 190. In such examples, GPU 190 decompresses the intermediategraphics data prior to completing the rendering process.

GPU 190 receives the intermediate graphics data and buffers theintermediate graphics data in the G-buffer of graphics memory 192. Pixelprocessing pipeline 194 and texture engine 196 then perform a secondportion of the image rendering process to render one or more images fromthe intermediate graphics data. For example, pixel processing pipeline194 may execute one or more shaders, including a final shading pass, torender one or more images. The final shading pass may include renderingscreen-sized quads, reading the G-buffer data, computing shader code,writing to a framebuffer of a device including GPU 190, and/or setting adepth complexity value equal to one.

In one example, GPU 190 is included in a virtual reality or augmentedreality headset including two displays, a left-eye display and aright-eye display, e.g., as shown in FIG. 1. GPU 190 may be configuredto generate (e.g., render and/or warp) two images of a stereoscopicimage pair (a left-eye image and a right-eye image) from theintermediate graphics data. In some examples, GPU 190 may render a firstimage (e.g., a left-eye image), and then warp the first image to producea second image (e.g., a right-eye image) from the first image. GPU 190may use depth data of the intermediate graphics data to warp the firstimage to produce the second image. Alternatively, in some examples, GPU190 may render a first image (e.g., a center image), and then use depthdata to warp the first image into a left-eye image and a right-eyeimage.

In some examples, GPU 190 may perform image warping as an additionalstage of the graphics processing pipeline (not shown in FIG. 2). Forexample, when CPU 152 executes software application 154, CPU 152 maygenerate tracking data to be used during the image warping stage. GPU160 may send the tracking data to GPU 190 as part of the intermediategraphics data. GPU 190 may perform two rendering passes: a first pass torender a first image and a second pass to perform perspective texturemapping with new camera parameters defined by the tracking data and togenerate a second image, where the first and second images define astereoscopic image pair.

In this manner, system 100 of FIG. 1 and system 150 of FIG. 2 representexamples of a system including a first computing device comprising afirst graphics processing unit (GPU) implemented in circuitry, and asecond computing device comprising a second GPU implemented incircuitry, where the first GPU is configured to perform a first portionof an image rendering process to generate intermediate graphics data andsend the intermediate graphics data to the second computing device, andwhere the second GPU is configured to perform a second portion of theimage rendering process to render an image from the intermediategraphics data.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example system 200 forperforming tiled rendering. These techniques may also be referred to asdeferred tiled rendering. System 200 includes CPU 202 and GPU 206. Inthis example, GPU 206 includes four GPU processors 208A-208D (GPUprocessors 208). In general, CPU 202 executes application 204,representing a graphics application, to generate graphics data. CPU 202sends the graphics data to GPU 206 to render image 210 from the graphicsdata.

In this example, GPU 206 performs a tiled rendering process. That is,GPU 206 subdivides a screen of a display into four tiles 212A-212D(tiles 212), to generate respective tile portions of image 210. Thus,GPU 206 assigns one of GPU processors 208 to respective tiles 212. Inthis example, GPU processor 208A is assigned to tile 212A, GPU processor208B is assigned to tile 212B, GPU processor 208C is assigned to tile212C, and GPU processor 208D is assigned to tile 212D. In otherexamples, GPU 206 may include additional or fewer GPU processors, eachof which may be assigned a respective tile.

In tiled rendering, CPU 202 may keep data for each of tiles 212 in fastlocal memory (not shown in FIG. 3). Typically, tiled renderingtechniques are performed in the rasterization stage (e.g., duringrasterization stage 168 of FIG. 2), because the 2D vertex projection hasbeen determined by the time rasterization stage 168 occurs. In someexamples, the tiled rendering process described with respect to FIG. 3may be performed by devices configured to perform the techniques of thisdisclosure, e.g., server device 102 and VR headset device 120 of FIG. 1,and/or CPU 152 and GPUs 160, 190 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example system 220 forperforming asynchronous image warping. In asynchronous image warping,rendering of an image and display of the image may be decoupled.Asynchronous image warping may generally include two passes: a slow,first pass and a fast, second pass. During the slow, first pass, a GPUmay render objects of 3D scene data 230 to texture buffer data 232 (alsoshown as a series of rendered images 224). The rendered image may belarger than a viewport to be displayed to a user. The GPU may store thisimage (or a portion of the image conforming to the viewport) to a firstbuffer, e.g., buffer 222A of FIG. 4, or a second buffer, e.g., buffer222B of FIG. 4. During the second, fast pass, a GPU (the same GPU or adifferent GPU) may warp the rendered image (texture buffer data 232) toform final image 234 for a corresponding camera perspective (also shownas a series of warped images 226). The GPU may then scan the warpedimages out to framebuffer memory (not shown in FIG. 4).

Devices performing image warping with depth according to the techniquesof this disclosure may use various warping techniques. For example, inbasic warping, no actual depth data is determined, but instead, anarbitrary, constant depth value is assumed. As another example, thedevices may perform warping with a depth buffer. In this example, thedevices perform pixel-wise forward reprojection. This may lead toreprojection and/or disocclusion artifacts. In yet another example, thedevices may perform warping with depth meshes. In this example, thedevices perform per-pixel warping to reduce reprojection artifacts. Toaddress disocclusion artifacts, the devices may tessellate the depthbuffer and render with projective texture mapping. This may cause somedistortion artifacts, in some examples.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example stereo warpingprocess. In the example of FIG. 5, system 250 includes a variety ofcamera perspectives 252, 254, 256 from which data of a scene 258 is tobe presented. In particular, a GPU may render an image from cameraperspective 254. The GPU may then warp the rendered image to cameraperspective 256 and to camera perspective 252. In this manner, ratherthan displaying the rendered image, the rendered image may be used onlyfor warping, and the stereoscopic image pair that is ultimatelydisplayed may include two images formed by warping the rendered image.

In some examples, devices of this disclosure (e.g., GPUs 110, 126 ofFIG. 1 and/or GPUs 160, 190 of FIG. 2) may be configured to performwarping with view-dependent shading. In some cases, warping may lead toincorrect specular (view-dependent) shading. Thus, a device (e.g., a GPUor pre-compiler for a compiler that compiles a shader) may factorfragment shaders into diffuse and specular parts. The GPU may thenrender diffuse and specular parts into separate G-buffers. The GPU mayfurther update the specular G-buffer more often than the diffuseG-buffer. In this manner, the devices of this disclosure may improve thespecular (view-dependent) shading.

In addition, or in the alternative, devices of this disclosure (e.g.,GPUs 110, 126 of FIG. 1 and/or GPUs 160, 190 of FIG. 2) may beconfigured to perform layered image warping. The devices may split ascene into a number N of depth layers, each depth layer having anassociated depth value. The devices may render each depth layer intoseparate G-buffers. The devices may further assign graphics objects tothe depth layers based on depth values of the graphics objects, e.g.,such that each graphics object is assigned to the depth layer having thedepth value that is closest to (most similar to) the depth value of thegraphics object. Then, the devices may warp each of the depth layersfrom the G-buffers independently of the other layers. Performing layeredimage warping in this manner may increase flexibility of asynchronouswarping. Independent moving objects can be assigned to different layers.This may result in reduction of disocclusion problems, since the finalimage can be filled from the various depth layers.

To define the depth layers, the application may insert begin/end layermarks into the graphical object stream (e.g., an OpenGL stream). Adevice may perform heuristic automatic separation of the graphicalobjects into various layers. The depth layers may be defined, forexample, by grouping objects by depth. That is, each depth layer mayinclude graphics objects having similar depth values, and each graphicsobject may be assigned to one of the layers.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example technique forperforming red-green-blue and depth (RGBD) compression. In general, thiscompression scheme involves spreading samples stored on both sides of anedge in an image over the image, in two stages. In the first stage (thepush stage), the image is downsampled. Block 270 may be downsampled bymathematically combining samples (pixels). For example, as shown inblock 272, diagonally neighboring pixels may be averaged to form valuesfor the pixels (squares) shown with heavier outlines than other pixels.In this manner, the example 6×6 block 272 may be downsampled to producedownsampled block 274. Crosshatch-shaded blocks represent empty pixels,which may be filled in this manner. Downsampled block 274 may be furtherdownsampled to produce further downsampled block 276 in a similarmanner.

In the second, pull stage, a GPU fills holes in coarse level images infiner scales. First, the GPU transfers the downsampled pixels of block272 to block 282 and fills certain empty pixel values (outlined usingdashed lines) by averaging values of diagonally neighboring pixels(shown using arrows) to produce block 288. The GPU then fills theremaining empty pixel values (shaded with crosshatching) by averagingvalues of horizontal and vertical neighboring pixels. The GPU maydownsample blocks 282, 288 to produce downsampled blocks 284, 290,respectively. The GPU may further downsample blocks 284, 290 to producefurther downsampled blocks 286, 292, representing compressed blocks. TheGPU may perform this process for each of red, green, blue, and depthcomponents of an image.

A server-side GPU (e.g., GPU 160 of FIG. 2) may compress color bufferdata by rendering a color image at a lower resolution than a depthbuffer and encoding the rendered image as low-bandwidth MPEG. Theserver-side GPU may compress depth buffer data by only keeping depthdiscontinuities and encoding incremental run-length data. To decompressthe color data, a client-side GPU (e.g., GPU 190 of FIG. 2) may performbilateral upsampling. To decompress the depth data, the client-side GPUmay perform the push-pull diffusion process of FIG. 6 explained above.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example process for rendering animage according to the techniques of this disclosure. The techniques ofFIG. 7 are explained with respect to server device 102 and VR headsetdevice 120 (an example of a client device) of FIG. 1. However, it shouldbe understood that other components and devices, such as the variouscomponents of FIG. 2, may also be configured to perform the process ofFIG. 7.

Initially, CPU 104 executes a graphics application as part of a graphicsapplication step of a graphics processing pipeline (300). By executingthe graphics application, CPU 104 generates graphics objects and/orgraphics primitives to be further processed as part of the graphicsprocessing pipeline. In some examples, CPU 104 may further generatetracking data to be used during an image warping stage of the graphicsprocessing pipeline, as explained above, to warp a rendered image inorder to form a stereoscopic image pair.

CPU 104 may provide the graphics objects and/or graphics primitives tographics card 108. GPU 110 of graphics card 108 may then execute ageometry step (302) and a rasterization step (304) of the graphicsprocessing pipeline, e.g., as explained above with respect to FIG. 2.However, rather than shading the rasterized image data (i.e.,intermediate graphics data), GPU 110 may store the intermediate graphicsdata to a G-buffer (306), e.g., in memory 106. As explained above, theintermediate graphics data may include texture (color and/orillumination) data and depth data. In some examples, the intermediategraphics data may include any or all of normal data (i.e., surfacenormal data), position data, identifier data, or the like. In someexamples, CPU 104 may assign the various graphics objects and/orgraphics primitives to various layers (e.g., based on depth values ofthe graphics objects), and GPU 110 may render the graphicsobjects/primitives of each layer to a separate, respective G-buffer ofmemory 106.

GPU 110 and/or CPU 104 may then compress the intermediate graphics dataas explained above with respect to FIG. 6 (not shown in FIG. 7). Serverdevice 102 may then send the G-buffer data to the client device (VRheadset device 120, in this example) (308). VR headset device 120 maythen receive the G-buffer data (310), and if the G-buffer data iscompressed, decompress the G-buffer data, as explained above.

GPU 126 of VR headset device 120 may then execute one or more shaders,including a final rendering pass, on the intermediate graphics data(312). The final rendering (or shading) pass may include warping texturedata of the intermediate graphics data to form a left-eye image of astereoscopic image pair (314) and warping the texture data of theintermediate graphics data to form a right-eye image of the stereoscopicimage pair (316), using the depth data of the intermediate graphicsdata. In particular, the final rendering pass may include converting asingle image into a stereoscopic image pair, performing time warping,and compensating for optics distortion of left-eye display 132 andright-eye display 134, all in a single pass. In other examples, GPU 126may treat the texture data of the intermediate graphics data as a firstimage of a stereoscopic image pair, and warp the texture data of theintermediate graphics data to form a second image of the stereoscopicimage pair. 5. VR headset device 120 may then display the images of thestereoscopic image pair (318), e.g., via left-eye display 132 andright-eye display 134.

In this manner, the method of FIG. 7 represents an example of a methodincluding performing, by a first graphics processing unit (GPU) of afirst computing device, a first portion of an image rendering process togenerate intermediate graphics data, sending, by the first computingdevice, the intermediate graphics data to a second computing device, andperforming, by a second GPU of the second computing device, a secondportion of the image rendering process to render an image from theintermediate graphics data.

In one or more examples, the functions described may be implemented inhardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implementedin software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as oneor more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium and executedby a hardware-based processing unit. Computer-readable media may includecomputer-readable storage media, which corresponds to a tangible mediumsuch as data storage media, or communication media including any mediumthat facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place toanother, e.g., according to a communication protocol. In this manner,computer-readable media generally may correspond to (1) tangiblecomputer-readable storage media which is non-transitory or (2) acommunication medium such as a signal or carrier wave. Data storagemedia may be any available media that can be accessed by one or morecomputers or one or more processors to retrieve instructions, codeand/or data structures for implementation of the techniques described inthis disclosure. A computer program product may include acomputer-readable medium.

By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable storagemedia can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical diskstorage, magnetic disk storage, or other magnetic storage devices, flashmemory, or any other medium that can be used to store desired programcode in the form of instructions or data structures and that can beaccessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed acomputer-readable medium. For example, if instructions are transmittedfrom a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable,fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), orwireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then thecoaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wirelesstechnologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in thedefinition of medium. It should be understood, however, thatcomputer-readable storage media and data storage media do not includeconnections, carrier waves, signals, or other transitory media, but areinstead directed to non-transitory, tangible storage media. Disk anddisc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, opticaldisc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc wheredisks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce dataoptically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be includedwithin the scope of computer-readable media.

Instructions may be executed by one or more processors, such as one ormore digital signal processors (DSPs), general purpose microprocessors,application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmablelogic arrays (FPGAs), or other equivalent integrated or discrete logiccircuitry. Accordingly, the term “processor,” as used herein may referto any of the foregoing structure or any other structure suitable forimplementation of the techniques described herein. In addition, in someaspects, the functionality described herein may be provided withindedicated hardware and/or software modules configured for encoding anddecoding, or incorporated in a combined codec. Also, the techniquescould be fully implemented in one or more circuits or logic elements.

The techniques of this disclosure may be implemented in a wide varietyof devices or apparatuses, including a wireless handset, an integratedcircuit (IC) or a set of ICs (e.g., a chip set). Various components,modules, or units are described in this disclosure to emphasizefunctional aspects of devices configured to perform the disclosedtechniques, but do not necessarily require realization by differenthardware units. Rather, as described above, various units may becombined in a codec hardware unit or provided by a collection ofinteroperative hardware units, including one or more processors asdescribed above, in conjunction with suitable software and/or firmware.

Various examples have been described. These and other examples arewithin the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of generating computer graphics, themethod comprising: receiving, by a first computing device, a pluralityof sets of intermediate graphics data from a second computing deviceseparate from the first computing device, wherein the sets ofintermediate graphics data are generated by a first portion of an imagerendering process performed by the second computing device for each of aplurality of depth layers, each of the sets of intermediate graphicsdata including rasterized graphics objects including unshaded sourcepixels having depth values corresponding to a respective depth layer ofthe plurality of depth layers; and performing, by a GPU of the firstcomputing device, a second portion of the image rendering process torender an image from the sets of intermediate graphics data, whereinperforming the second portion of the image rendering process includesshading the unshaded source pixels of the intermediate graphics data toproduce texture values for the unshaded source pixels.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first portion of the image rendering processincludes performing at least a geometry step and a rasterization step ofa graphics pipeline, and wherein performing the second portion of theimage rendering process comprises performing a final rendering pass bythe GPU, wherein the final rendering pass includes performing timewarping and compensating for optics distortion of a display to be usedto display the rendered image.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereinperforming the final rendering pass comprises storing shaded graphicsdata for the image to a framebuffer of the first computing device. 4.The method of claim 1, wherein the sets of intermediate graphics datacomprising a shaded color component and a depth component, and the setsof intermediate graphics data from are received at a graphics buffer ofthe first computing device.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the setsof intermediate graphics data are compressed.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the sets of intermediate graphics data includes graphics datadefining texture information and depth information, and whereinperforming the second portion of the image rendering process to renderthe image comprises: warping the texture information using the depthinformation to produce a first image of a stereoscopic image pair; andwarping the texture information using the depth information to produce asecond image of the stereoscopic image pair.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein the first computing device comprises a virtual reality (VR)headset, the method further comprising: displaying, by the VR headset,the first image on a first display of the VR headset; and displaying, bythe VR headset, the second image on a second display of the VR headset.8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the imagerendering process includes at least one of deferred tiled rendering orfoveated rendering, wherein deferred tiled rendering comprises dividingthe image into a plurality of tiles, and wherein foveated renderingcomprises sampling pixels in the center of the image more densely thanpixels in the periphery of the image.
 9. The method of claim 1, whereinthe first portion of the image rendering process includes, determiningthe depth values of the graphics objects on which the image renderingprocess is performed, and assigning each of the graphics objects to arespective depth layer of the plurality of depth layers based on thedepth values, wherein each of the depth layers has an associated depthvalue.
 10. A system for generating computer graphics, the systemcomprising: a first computing device comprising a graphics processingunit (GPU) implemented in circuitry, the first computing deviceconfigured to receive a plurality of sets of intermediate graphics datagenerated by a first portion of an image rendering process for each of aplurality of depth layers from a second computing device separate fromthe first computing device, each of the sets of intermediate graphicsdata including rasterized graphics objects including unshaded sourcepixels having depth values corresponding to a respective depth layer ofthe plurality of depth layers, and wherein the GPU is configured toperform a second portion of the image rendering process to render animage from the intermediate graphics data, wherein to perform the secondportion of the image rendering process, the GPU is configured to shadethe unshaded source pixels of the intermediate graphics data to producetexture values for the unshaded source pixels.
 11. The system of claim10, wherein the first portion of the image rendering process includesperforming at least a geometry step and a rasterization step of agraphics pipeline, and wherein to perform the second portion of theimage rendering process, the GPU is configured to perform a finalrendering pass, wherein the final rendering pass includes time warpingand compensating for optics distortion of a display to be used todisplay the rendered image.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein thefirst computing device further comprises a memory storing a framebuffer,and wherein to perform the final rendering pass, the GPU is configuredto store shaded graphics data for the image to the framebuffer.
 13. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the first computing device furthercomprising a graphics buffer to receive the sets of intermediategraphics data further including a shaded color component and a depthcomponent.
 14. The system of claim 10, wherein the sets of intermediategraphics data are compressed.
 15. The system of claim 10, wherein thesets of intermediate graphics data includes graphics data definingtexture information and depth information, and wherein the secondportion of the image rendering process to render the image by the GPUincludes: warp the texture information using the depth information toproduce a first image of a stereoscopic image pair, and warp the textureinformation using the depth information to produce a second image of thestereoscopic image pair.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the firstcomputing device comprises a virtual reality (VR) headset comprising afirst display and a second display, wherein the VR headset is furtherconfigured to: display the first image on the first display; and displaythe second image on the second display.
 17. The system of claim 10,wherein the first portion of the image rendering process includes atleast one of deferred tiled rendering or foveated rendering, whereindeferred tiled rendering comprises dividing the image into a pluralityof tiles, and wherein foveated rendering comprises sampling pixels inthe center of the image more densely than pixels in the periphery of theimage.
 18. The system of claim 10, wherein the first portion of theimage rendering process includes, determining the depth values of thegraphics objects on which the image rendering process is performed, andassigning each of the graphics objects to a respective depth layer ofthe plurality of depth layers based on the depth values, wherein each ofthe depth layers has an associated depth value.
 19. A system forgenerating computer graphics, the system comprising: a first computingdevice, wherein the first computing device comprises: means forreceiving a plurality of sets of intermediate graphics data from asecond computing device separate from the first computing device,wherein the sets of intermediate graphics data are generated by a firstportion of an image rendering process for each of a plurality of depthlayers, each of the sets of intermediate graphics data includingrasterized graphics objects including unshaded source pixels havingdepth values corresponding to a respective depth layer of the pluralityof depth layers, and means for performing a second portion of the imagerendering process of the GPU pipeline to render an image from the setsof intermediate graphics data, wherein the means for performing thesecond portion of the image rendering process includes means for shadingthe unshaded source pixels of the intermediate graphics data to producetexture values for the unshaded source pixels.
 20. The system of claim19, wherein the sets of intermediate graphics data includes graphicsdata defining texture information and depth information, wherein themeans for performing the second portion of the image rendering processcomprises: means for warping the texture information using the depthinformation to produce a first image of a stereoscopic image pair; andmeans for warping the texture information using the depth information toproduce a second image of the stereoscopic image pair; and wherein thefirst computing device comprises a virtual reality (VR) headsetcomprising: means for displaying the first image on a first display ofthe VR headset; and means for displaying the second image on a seconddisplay of the VR headset.
 21. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumhaving stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause a graphicsprocessing unit (GPU) of a first computing device to: receive aplurality of sets of intermediate graphics data from a second computingdevice separate from the first computing device, wherein the sets ofintermediate graphics data are generated by a first portion of an imagerendering process for each of a plurality of depth layers, each of thesets of intermediate graphics data including rasterized graphics objectsincluding unshaded source pixels having depth values corresponding to arespective depth layer of the plurality of depth layers; and perform asecond portion of the image rendering process to render an image fromthe sets of intermediate graphics data, wherein the instructions thatcause the processor to perform the second portion of the image renderingprocess include instructions that cause the processor to shade unshadedsource pixels of the intermediate graphics data to produce texturevalues for the unshaded source pixels.
 22. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the first portionof the image rendering process comprises at least a geometry step and arasterization step of a graphics pipeline, and wherein the instructionsthat cause the GPU to perform the second portion of the image renderingprocess comprise instructions that cause the GPU to perform a finalrendering pass, wherein the final rendering pass includes time warpingand compensating for optics distortion of a display to be used todisplay the rendered image.
 23. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of claim 22, further comprising instructions that causethe GPU to store shaded graphics data produced during the finalrendering pass to a framebuffer of the first computing device.
 24. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein theinstructions that cause the GPU to receive the sets of intermediategraphics data comprise instructions that cause the GPU to receivegraphics buffer data, wherein the graphics buffer data comprises ashaded color component and a depth component.
 25. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the instructionsthat cause the GPU to receive the sets of intermediate graphics datacomprise instructions that cause the GPU to receive compressed sets ofintermediate graphics of the graphics buffer, further comprisinginstructions that cause the GPU to decompress the compressed sets ofintermediate graphics of the graphics buffer.
 26. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the instructionsthat cause the GPU to receive the sets of intermediate graphics datacomprise instructions that cause the GPU to receive graphics datadefining texture information and depth information, and wherein theinstructions that cause the GPU to perform the second portion of theimage rendering process to render the image comprise instructions thatcause the GPU to: warp the texture information using the depthinformation to produce a first image of a stereoscopic image pair; andwarp the texture information using the depth information to produce asecond image of the stereoscopic image pair.
 27. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein the firstcomputing device comprises a virtual reality (VR) headset, furthercomprising instructions that cause the VR headset to: display the firstimage on a first display of the VR headset; and display the second imageon a second display of the VR headset.
 28. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein the instructionsthat cause the GPU to warp the texture information using the depthinformation to produce the first image comprise instructions that causethe GPU to determine the depth layers to which the graphics objects ofthe sets of intermediate graphics data are assigned based on the depthvalues for the graphics objects and warp graphics objects of each of thedepth layers from a first camera perspective for the first image; andwherein the instructions that cause the GPU to warp the textureinformation using the depth information to produce the second imagecomprise instructions that cause the GPU to determine depth layers towhich the graphics objects of the sets of intermediate graphics data areassigned based on the depth values for the graphics objects and warp thegraphics objects of each of the depth layers from a second cameraperspective for the second image.